The NHS is responding to a boom in the birthrate by cutting spending on maternity services, the Royal College of Midwives said yesterday after a survey of more than 100 heads of midwifery in hospital trusts across Britain.
It found two-thirds of maternity units were understaffed and most were trying to save money by employing fewer qualified midwives and taking on maternity support workers instead.
Louise Silverton, the college's deputy general secretary, said: "This is terrible news for a government that in its election manifesto pledged every woman would have a named individual midwife to care for her by 2009. The midwifery shortage is getting worse rather than better at a time when we are experiencing a significant increase in the number of births."
The survey produced a "depressing picture" of cuts, job freezes, shortages and financial crises.
More than one in five heads of midwifery reported a cut in the number of midwives at their trust. Hospitals were also cutting budgets for the training and development of midwives, in some cases by 75% or even 100%. A few units have become totally dependent on charitable donations to fund midwifery training, the RCM added.
The survey found that midwifery units recruited an average of 6.3 newly qualified midwives last year, compared with 6.8 in 2005. The average unit had 21 maternity support workers last year, compared with 19 in 2005.
Ms Silverton said: "This is irrefutable proof that midwives are under enormous pressure and nothing is being done to alleviate the situation. Unless midwifery services are expanded there is no hope of the government's manifesto commitments being achieved.
"Heads of midwifery are in charge of making sure that women have a good birthing experience. That is very hard when a third of those who responded to our survey said their maternity services budget had been cut, that a total recruitment freeze was still in place in many units, and that newly-qualified midwives are not getting jobs."
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: "We have invested £100m since 2001 and have already achieved our target to increase the number of midwives employed in the NHS by 2,000."
The target was reached in 2005, ahead of schedule. She added: "Now there are almost 2,500 more midwives than there were in 1997. Through more investment in training staff and finding ways for midwives to come back to work in the NHS we expect to see further increases in the midwifery workforce, but clearly there is still more to be done."
The department said the vacancy rate for midwives was 1%, the lowest level for six years. "However, in some parts of the country there are hard-to-fill vacancies, especially in London and the south-east."
